Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS
Multimedia Tours of a Computer Museum
It is fitting that the world's largest computer museum, the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF) in Paderborn, offers a multimedia guide that incorporates awiloc®. Utilizing this positioning technology developed by Fraunhofer IIS, Antenna International equipped the museum with a multimedia guide that is in a class of its own. Handheld devices running awiloc® continuously locate themselves and guide visitors by displaying relevant photos – an innovation that does away with the need to key in exhibit numbers and, in a preliminary trial, was welcomed by visitors as very helpful.
The devices used are modern smartphones; they provide supplementary content which both educates and entertains. After all, there is much to be discovered in the HNF about 5000 years of information technology, from clay tablets inscribed with ancient glyphs to cell phones that were larger than a shoe box.
High precision
A carefully designed Wi-Fi infrastructure is necessary for the multimedia guide to reliably identify floors and rooms and collect high-resolution positioning data in the vicinity of exhibits. In the HNF, directional antennas provide very high resolution for specific areas, where positions are determined with an accuracy of 1.5 meters, with no interconnected Wi-Fi infrastructure required.
Fraunhofer's awiloc® technology is also used in numerous other museums, e.g. the Haus der Geschichte Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart and Nuremberg's Museum für Industriekultur, as well as by many application developers. Further museum projects are in preparation in London, Munich, Vienna and other cities.
"With our multimedia guide, we aim to present information in an up-to-date format while also giving our visitors the opportunity to take an entertaining tour of the museum."
Dr. Kurt Beiersdörfer, Managing Director, HNF
The multimedia guide shortlisted for the coveted International Museums & Heritage Awards for Excellence 2013.